The invention relates generally to electrocardiogram systems, and more specifically to the enhancement and detection of pace pulses in electrocardiogram data.
A pacemaker is an electronic device used to treat patients who have symptoms caused by abnormally slow heartbeats. The pacemaker keeps track of the patient's heartbeat. For instance, if the patient's heart is beating too slowly, the pacemaker may generate electrical signals similar to that of the heart's natural signals, thereby causing the heart to beat faster. The purpose of the pacemaker is to maintain heartbeats in order to ensure that adequate oxygen and nutrients are delivered through the blood to the organs of the body.
An electrocardiogram (ECG or EKG) is generally, though not always, a non-invasive technique that is used to reflect underlying heart conditions by measuring the electrical activity of the heart. By positioning leads on or in the body in standardized locations, information about many heart conditions may be learned by looking for characteristic patterns in the ECG waveforms.
In order to efficiently evaluate ECG results, the diagnostician must know if the heart is being actively paced. However, due to rapid advancement in technology, the modern pacemakers are increasingly using lower voltages and power levels than those previously employed. Hence, the output from the newer pacemakers is often not visible on a conventional ECG machine.
It is becoming increasingly difficult to efficiently detect pace pulses in an adverse clinical ECG environment. Furthermore, the detection of pace pulses may be complicated by the presence of spurious signals such as impulsive noise and programmer pulses. Therefore, it may be desirable to develop a robust technique to detect pace pulses in raw ECG data.